The invention relates to a recording and/or reproducing device, into which a cassette can be loaded, which cassette comprises a housing and a rotationally drivable supply reel accommodated in the housing and a record carrier in the form of a tape wound onto the reel hub of the supply reel and a coupling element connected to the record carrier in the area of the free end of the record carrier and held in a coupling position, and which comprises a rotationally drivable take-up reel having a reel hub and having a pull-out element constructed to be coupled to the coupling element, and which comprises retaining means constructed to detachably retain the pull-out element and enabling the pull-out element to be retained in an area in which a coupling to the coupling element can be effected and thereby a pull-out assembly can be formed, which pull-out assembly comprises the pull-out element and the coupling element coupled thereto, and by which retaining means the pull-out element is detachable after its coupling to the coupling element, and which comprises actuating means by which the pull-out assembly can be moved away from the retaining means and up to the reel hub of the take-up reel, in order to bring into engagement with one another, on the one hand, the reel hub and, on the other hand, the pull-out assembly comprising the pull-out element and the coupling element coupled thereto, where with the pull-out assembly brought into engagement with reel hub of the take-up reel a) a partly cylindrical circumferential surface of the reel hub and a partly cylindrical circumferential surface of the pull-out assembly together form a cylindrical winding surface onto which the record carrier in the form of a tape can be wound, and b) the reel hub and the pull-out assembly adjoin one another in the area of a separating zone and lie against each other with two narrow positioning surfaces which are spaced apart in the axial direction of the reel hub, which extend parallel to the axial direction and which are formed by lateral surfaces of two projecting portions which extend perpendicularly to the axial direction, and with two corresponding surfaces which extend parallel to the axial direction and which each face a respective positioning surface, and c) said reel hub and said pull-out assembly are situated between the two projecting portions and enclose an intermediate space.
Such a recording and/or reproducing device of the type defined in the opening paragraph is known, for example from the patent document WO 98/44499 A1. In the known recording and/or reproducing device the pull-out assembly, when viewed in the axial direction of the reel hub of the take-up reel, basically has the shape of a circular segment, substantially one half of this circular segment forming the pull-out element and the other half of this circular segment forming the coupling element. That bounding surface of the pull-out assembly which faces the reel hub of the take-up reel and corresponds to the chord of the circular segment, is substantially plane. In the area of those sides of this plane bounding surface which are spaced at a distance from one another the pull-out assembly, when the pull-out assembly has been brought into engagement with the reel hub of the take-up reel, engages with two projecting portions which project from the reel hub transversely to the axial direction and which are shaped as ribs. Thus, in the known recording and/or reproducing device both projecting portions are disposed on the reel hub. This poses a problem in that, consequently, the reel hub, which is made of a plastic, must be manufactured with a comparatively complex die having at least one slide, as a result of which the manufacture of the reel hub and thus of the take-up reel is comparatively complicated and comparatively expensive and, furthermore, the manufacturing accuracy for the reel hub in the area of the positioning surfaces on the projecting portions deteriorates, which poses a problem for an exact positioning of the reel hub and the pull-out assembly with respect to each other, namely because this eventually affects the winding quality of the record carrier tape formed by a magnetic tape.
It is an object of the invention to preclude the aforementioned problems and to provide an improved recording and/or reproducing device of the type defined in the opening paragraph, in which a high positioning accuracy of the reel hub of the take-up reel and the pull-out assembly with respect to each other is guaranteed and, as a result of this, always a high winding quality for a record carrier tape can be achieved.
According to the invention, in order to achieve the aforesaid object in a recording and/or reproducing device of the type defined in the opening paragraph, a first projecting portion of the two projecting portions projects from the reel hub of the take-up reel and the second projecting portion projects from the pull-out assembly.
By taking these particularly simple measures, which neither require any additional material, it is achieved that the reel hub of the take-up reel can be manufactured in a simple manner by means of a simple die without a separate slide, while at the same time a simple producibility of the parts of the pull-out assembly remains possible and, owing to the simple producibility, also a high precision in the formation of the projecting portions is achieved, which results in a high positioning accuracy of the positioning of the pull-out assembly with respect to the take-up reel, which reflects itself in a high winding quality.
In a recording and/or reproducing device in accordance with the invention the pull-out assembly may be of a construction as disclosed in the patent document WO 98/44499 A1. However, for a very high positioning accuracy of the reel hub of the take-up reel and the pull-out assembly with respect to each other it has proved to be particularly advantageous if the measures defined in claim 2 are taken because as a result of said measures it is achieved that the second projecting portion is connected to only one part of the pull-out assembly, namely the pull-out element, and can consequently be realized with a high accuracy.
In a recording and/or reproducing device having a coupling element which is disposed wholly within the pull-out element the separating zone between the reel hub of the take-up reel and the pull-out assembly may be inclined as viewed in the axial direction of the reel hub, in which case the separating zone, as viewed in the axial direction, comprises two zone parts which form an obtuse angle with one another. However, it has proved to be advantageous if the measures defined in claim 3 are taken. This has proved to be advantageous for a simple engagement of the reel hub of the take-up reel and the pull-out assembly with each other and for a simple and precise positioning.
Further advantageous embodiments of a recording and/or reproducing device in accordance with the invention have the characteristic features defined in the further subsidiary claims.
The above-mentioned as well as further aspects of the invention will become apparent from the embodiment described hereinafter by way of example and will be elucidated with reference to this example.